ATHENS (GREECE): Embarking on a three-day visit to Greece that began on Wednesday night, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam is clearly enchanted with the ancient Greek civilisation, philosophy and literature.

In his speech at a banquet hosted in his honour by Greece President Karolos Papoulias and in his address at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy here on Thursday, Mr. Kalam made references to exchanges between India and Greece that began well before Alexander's invasion in 326 BC.

An experienced teacher and scientist himself, he also referred to sixth century BC travel to India by Pythagoras and philosopher-teachers Socrates and Plato. "In more recent times, in the 18th century, Demetrius Galanos of Athens embraced India as his second motherland and breathed his last in his beloved Varanasi," he mentioned in his banquet speech.

Land of "Iliad"

The sense of history seemed to have enveloped Mr. Kalam in Athens as he expressed his delight over having embarked upon a visit to the land of "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" and that of Socrates, Homer and Plato. "Greece is the country from where democracy radiated and dimensions of Republic were established," he said.

Modern challenges

Turning his focus on the modern challenges facing the two countries, Mr. Kalam said both secured freedom from colonial rule and fought against fascism in World War II. "We share a deep commitment to democracy and have active civil societies. We both believe in the values of freedom, dignity and respect for the individual. We stand together to fight against terrorism for which we have zero tolerance. These shared values have helped us to understand each other's concerns and aspirations, paving the way for broad-based cooperation."

Describing Greece as an important member of the European Union with which India's relations had grown stronger over the years, Mr. Kalam said the EU "element" was yet another important dimension in India-Greece relations.

His message from his country of a billion democratic people with multi-religion, multi-language and multi-cultural backgrounds was: "Nations have to work together and graduate to bring peace and prosperity not only to their own country but also to nations around them. Then only peace will prevail in the world." Reiterating India's commitment to the United Nations charter, the President said India believed that there was a need to reform the U.N. structure to make it more democratic and transparent. "We appreciate Greece's principled and consistent support to India's candidature for a permanent seat on an expanded U.N. Security Council," Mr. Kalam said.

In his address to the Hellenic Foundation, the President said India had evolved a "National Prosperity Index" which was a summation of annual growth rate of GDP plus improvement in quality of life of the people and the adoption of a value system.

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